There were many reasons why the Chinese left the villages of Taishan in large numbers starting around the middle 1800s.
Harsh conditions, political, social, and physical, made it difficult to survive economically. Young men set out as laborers
to many parts of the world to earn livings so they could send money back to their kin.

When and why did the Chinese come to the United States and Canada? How were they received and how did they deal with often
unwelcome receptions? This section includes websites that trace the history of Chinese immigration from Taishan in southern
China between the middle 1800s to about 1950.